Guillermo Del Toro Says “This Is Not The Year” For Changes To The Oscars Format

Michael Appler Renée Zellweger and showrunner Jenny Klein gathered on Monday at the chic Whitby Hotel in New York City to fete the release of their NBC series “The Thing About Pam.”In “The Thing About Pam,” a limited series based on the viral “Dateline” episode and true crime podcast of the same name, Zellweger plays Pam Hupp, a sadistic, yet unassuming Missouri woman who was charged with the murder of her best friend Betsy after framing Betsy’s husband. But the real Hupp looks nothing like the two-time Oscar winner.

Topher Grace is opening up about the time when he crashed the Oscars red carpet before he was famous.

Regina Hall knew just who to ask for advice when it came to hosting this year's Academy Awards -- EGOT winner and legendary Oscars host Whoopi Goldberg!«She did it four times, which is incredible,» Hall told ET's Rachel Smith of reaching out to the comedy icon for her advice. «The thing with Whoopi is she's so generous… The biggest thing [she said] was to have fun and celebrate why you're there.

so many others in the Academy, they feel optimistic about the future of documentary short films as the projects become more accessible.“The short doc has the lowest barrier of entry to all forms of cinema,” said Ben Proudfoot, director of “The Queen of Basketball.” “As we think about making the film industry more diverse, more viable, more international… I think the short doc is the most exciting corner of cinema. Frankly, regardless of how the telecast is produced, the growth of this part of the industry is going to happen anyway,” Proudfoot added.Proudfoot was one of six nominated filmmakers who spoke with TheWrap’s Steve Pond on Tuesday about their work.

the recently announced plan to hand out awards in eight categories before the live telecast of this year’s Academy Awards begins. But some critics of the plan, which will bestow awards in the Dolby Theatre during the Oscar preshow and then edit those presentations into the live telecast, are looking beyond this year to what could be the real battle for the show’s future. “I’ve talked about it publicly and I’ve talked to people at the Academy about it privately, and I don’t think anything’s going to change,” “Nightmare Alley” director Guillermo del Toro told TheWrap this week.

EXCLUSIVE: Academy Awards attendees from outside Los Angeles will not have to quarantine at all before heading to the Dolby Theater on March 27.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentSearchlight’s “Nightmare Alley” has four well-deserved Oscar nominations: production design, Tamara Deverell, Shane Vieau; costume design, Luis Sequeira; cinematography, Dan Laustsen; and best picture.And while filmmaking greats including Martin Scorsese have praised “Alley,” some audiences were caught off-guard because it isn’t what they expected from Guillermo del Toro, who is director, co-writer and one of the three Oscar-nominated producers.“It’s the first film of a different period in my life,” del Toro tells Variety, marking a new style and outlook. The film is also physically beautiful.

Wyatte Grantham-Philips editorThe Oscars show producer Will Packer has announced key production team members for the 94th Academy Awards, which are set to air live on ABC March 27. In addition, for the first time, a new culinary partner, Ghetto Gastro, will collaborate with longtime chef Wolfgang Puck on the Governors Ball menu.Puck and his Wolfgang Puck Catering will again create the menu for this year’s Governors Ball taking place after the telecast, this year with Bronx-based Ghetto Gastro contributing additional menu items.

After cancelling the Governors Ball due to Covid concerns last year, the official post-Oscars celebration will be back in action, and that includes Gov Ball perennial Wolfgang Puck  back to collaborate on the menu, this year joined by Bronx-based culinary collective Ghetto Gastro. The latter’s work blends influences from the African diaspora, global South ingredients and hip-hop to create offerings that address race, identity and economic empowerment.

Ashley Hume Producer Stacey Sher, her daughter Maggie Brown and Ashley Greene hosted a benefit for The Pad Project at Veronica Beard’s West Hollywood store on Tuesday night.Held in honor of International Women’s Day, attendees of the event were invited to shop at the luxury boutique, which donated 10% of the profits to The Pad Project and its international programs.Launched in 2013 by a group of students and educators at the Oakwood School in Los Angeles, The Pad Project has evolved from a documentary project following the efforts of a small village in India to destigmatize the conversation around menstruation, into an organization that works to end period poverty around the world.Executive-produced by Scher and co-produced by Brown, the documentary short “Period. End of Sentence” won best documentary short at the 2019 Academy Awards.

Some of Hollywood’s biggest A-listers are speaking out.

Amy Schumer is looking forward to taking on one of Hollywood's biggest hosting gigs, that being the 2022 Academy Awards at the end of March.MORE: Amy Schumer 'outs' the news that Superbad star Michael Cera has welcomed a babySpeaking to Extra TV, the actress revealed that she was ready to stir things up come Oscars night and go in no holds barred.WATCH: Amy Schumer's husband Chris surprises her with unique birthday messageShe said: "I'm going to get myself in some trouble as per the [usual]…" Amy will be joined by fellow actresses Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall on stage."Wanda, Regina are hilarious. And we're having a blast preparing.

At this year’s Oscars, Amy Schumer plans on pushing boundaries.

Jon Burlingame editorSome of Hollywood’s most high-profile filmmakers, including director James Cameron, producers Kathleen Kennedy and Lili Fini Zanuck and composer John Williams have joined the growing chorus of voices asking the Academy to reverse course and present all 23 Oscars on the live March 27 telecast.In a letter obtained by Variety and sent today to Academy President David Rubin, more than six dozen film professionals including multiple Academy Award winners, contend that the plan to present eight awards during the pre-telecast hour will “demean” these crafts and “relegate [them] to the status of second-class citizens.”The eight are original score, film editing, production design, makeup and hairstyling, sound, documentary short, live-action short and animated short. The Academy continues to insist that the nominees in those categories will be announced, and the winner’s acceptance speech aired, in edited form and aired as part of the three-hour ABC show.

J. Kim Murphy William Morris Endeavor (WME) has elected to nix its annual Academy Awards party, instead choosing to donate one million dollars to UNICEF to support civilians in Ukraine amid the ongoing invasion of the country by Russian military forces.The agency’s chairman Lloyd Braun informed WME staff of the decision through a letter circulated through the company on Tuesday.“I’ve been following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in shock, processing heartbreaking stories and images while wondering how we can best lend our support,” Braun’s statement reads.

Renee Zellweger is opening up about her iconic Oscar win during the 2020 ceremony, and revealed that she actually got to the ceremony in an unusual way.

More presenters have been announced for the 2022 Academy Awards!

Jessica Chastain brought a very special plus one with her to this year’s Oscar Nominees Luncheon on Tuesday.

Amy Schumer is getting ready to co-host the 2022 Oscars.

Nicole Kidman's absence at the annual Oscar nominees luncheon has a perfectly good explanation — she's recovering from an injury.ET can confirm the star is at home in Nashville, Tennessee, recovering from a torn hamstring. The 54-year-old actress had been filming her Amazon series,  in L.A., when the pre-existing injury flared up.According to , which first reported the news, producers are temporarily halting production of the Amazon series this week to figure out when they can resume and if they'll need to shoot around Kidman until she can return to the production. Kidman, nominated for her fifth Oscar following her portrayal of Lucille Ball, attended the Screen Actors Guild Awards last month in Santa Monica, California.

Oscar Nominees Luncheon. After having a virtual ceremony in 2021 due to COVID, this year, the event resumed in person at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.Will Packer, who is producing the 2022 Academy Awards, hosted the March 7th luncheon, noting in his opening remarks that “This is the year.” As part of the festivities, this year’s nominees snapped their infamous group photos marking their nominee class which included a mix of actors and actresses, cinematographers, directors, glam and styling teams, as well as sound experts.ESSENCE was on the scene to witness the Black excellence, which included an appearance from one of this year’s Black Women In Hollywood honorees.

Kristen Stewart had her fiancee Dylan Meyer by her side for a full day of pre-Oscars events!

Clayton Davis The Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon was a happy occasion full of hugs between stars, but also a sense of trepidation as the first Academy luncheon since the COVID-19 pandemic started in March 2020. With a live, in-person event held at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, with remarks from Oscars producer Will Packer and Academy president David Rubin, over 200 guests gathered to celebrate the achievements of this year’s nominees for the 94th Oscars, set to take place on March 27.Rubin’s opening remarks acknowledged the war in Ukraine and the Academy’s global support for a peaceful resolution.Some key takeaways from the event1. The Academy wants the show to be fun.Packer emceed the top of the event, praising the year’s crop of nominees.

this is the year.”But between COVID and Ukraine and a recent plan to change the Oscar show, this was also a year to question celebration, and there was some of that going on as the nominees gathered. The specter of the pandemic hung over the event, both in the fact that everyone was required to not only show proof of vaccination but also to have tested negative in a PCR test either Saturday or Sunday.

Steven Spielberg steps out for the 2022 Oscars Nominees Luncheon held at Fairmont Century Plaza on Monday (March 7) in Los Angeles.

Deadline he “feels very strongly” about the decision, explaining he believes filmmaking is a collaborative art and “we should all have a seat at the supper table”.“I disagree with the decision made by the executive committee,” the filmmaker said.  “I feel very strongly that this is perhaps the most collaborative medium in the world. All of us make movies together, we become a family where one craft is just as indispensable as the next.“I feel that at the Academy Awards there is no above the line, there is no below the line.

Oscar watchers, Hollywood guilds that represent the categories in question and even Academy members.But on Sunday, the Film Independent Spirit Awards did the same thing by handing out its editing, cinematography and international-feature awards during commercial breaks, and then slipping edited versions of the winners’ speeches into the final segment of the telecast on IFC. And maybe because the group didn’t talk about what it was doing ahead of time, there was no real criticism of the move, which the Spirit Awards had also done in the past.

The nominations are in, there have been snubs and surprises galore, and dozens of column inches have already been dedicated to who might take home an Academy Award. But who is going to win on March 27? And who will end up empty-handed? Below, we've brought together industry whispers, bookmakers' odds, and our own honest-to-goodness opinions to present our Oscars 2022 predictions. Think of it as your cheat sheet for the big day.

One of this year’s Best Director nominees is speaking out against the Academy’s decision to pre-tape eight of the award categories before the live Oscars show this month.

Another year, another Oscars telecast filled with controversy…before the first award is handed out. It seems like every year the Academy does something that confuses and frustrates fans and the filmmaking community.

“The Lost Daughter” was the big winner, but the 2022 Film Independent Spirit Awards will also be remembered as the year that the Indie Spirits moved away from the Oscars in more ways than one.After decades as the show that takes place the Saturday afternoon before the Academy Awards (or, a couple of times, two or three days before the Oscars), the Spirit Awards moved to a Sunday three weeks earlier, with Film Independent president Josh Welsh explaining, “Shifting earlier in the awards season will allow us to shine an even brighter light on the films and shows we are excited to celebrate.”The move was considered an attempt to influence awards season more than it could in its usual spot, which takes place after Oscar voting has stopped; this year, the Spirit Awards showcased its favorites before Academy voters could even begin casting their ballots.But the date change didn’t really matter, because the Indie Spirit Awards’ connection to and influence on the Oscars has never been more minimal. And that’s likely to be true even though a few of Sunday‘s winners – supporting actor Troy Kotsur, documentary feature “Summer of Soul” and international film “Drive My Car” – will likely repeat at the Oscars in three weeks.Nothing will come out of the Spirit Awards with awards-season momentum that it didn’t already have – because this year’s Spirit nominations were so singular, and so independent, that Academy members couldn’t vote for them if they wanted to.

A new change to the 2022 Oscars is not sitting well with some established filmmakers

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentPublic service announcement to journalists: When discussing Oscars in the next few weeks, please don’t refer to “the technical categories.”Reminder to Academy/ABC decision-makers: You’ve always stated that all Oscar categories are equal, but the Feb. 22 move was a reminder that some categories are more equal than others.On that day, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced eight of Oscar’s 23 awards will be handed out before the televised ceremony. That includes five of the nine artisan categories.

The hot pre-ceremony topic among attendees of the 26th annual Art Directors Guild Awards tonight was the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ controversial decision to pre-tape several artisan awards – including production design – and edit them into the live network broadcast.

The Hollywood Reporter, which first reported the news about Fleischman’s resignation.The overwhelming response from within the industry and from invested fans was fairly intense outrage over what many critics said was an insult to the people in the affected categories.Many people dinged the Academy for a decision they argued won’t actually bring in new viewers but might alienate the viewers that keep tuning in.